The Irony of June 4th…

It was called the date that shall live in infamy: December 7, 1941. It was a day when war came to the United States, when the naval forces of Imperial Japan attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet on a Sunday morning at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Early on there were setbacks for the United States in the Pacific against the Japanese. However, it was a time when we had both elected and military leaders who understood war, winning and victory. They understood that wars are fought for three purposes; annihilation, attrition, or assimilation and yes, annihilation was chosen. There were no discussions and gyrations about what to call the enemy, and it was understood that the enemy's ideology had to be defeated.

And so it was, on this day, June 4, 1942 that the tide of World War II in the Pacific theater shifted with the Battle of Midway.

When the USS Yorktown was severely damaged at the Battle of Coral Sea, estimations were six months to repair her. Admiral Chester Nimitz did not accept that timeline, and the Yorktown set sail from Pearl Harbor in 72 hours.

So, here we are 75 years later.

On September 11, 2001 Islamic jihadists attacked the United States and here we are sixteen years later. Here we are awakening to see the news coverage about yet another Islamic jihadist attack, the third in three months in the UK. This time, seven have lost their lives and some 48 wounded, more deaths could come.

Here we are in western civilization with some calling for a "summer of resistance" all because they want an American president impeached, for what? Damn, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were allies with Joseph Stalin. Here we are lighting up the World Trade Center in colors aligned with climate change, in complete disregard to the Americans who lost their lives there. Here we are with so called world "leaders" more upset about the weather than confronting the enemy, the ideology, that continues to tells us who they are and what they desire.

This is the irony of June 4th. There was once a time when the west possessed leaders, men and women of courage, strength, resolve, determination and will. They understood the words of Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz who asserted that war is the "imposition of one's will upon another."

We know that this barbarism, this evil that exists today called Islamic jihadism, Islamism or islamo-fascism, and is exemplified in groups such as ISIS has called for attacks on our people. They have demanded and propagandized on western-created social media communications systems to kill us using guns, knives, and vehicles. And with this rhetoric and subsequent actions, we play insidious games of political correctness. We have partisan, politicized, judicial activists who place our national security at risk over progressive socialist ideological agendas. According to Barack Obama, the best thing for the UK to do now is to institute some form of knife control. We have liberal progressive leftists who seek to disarm Americans, subverting our Second Amendment right, that would result in our being subjects, helpless targets, just as the people were on London bridge and in Borough Market.

In eight minutes, yes, eight minutes, seven were killed and 48 wounded before law enforcement authorities engaged, firing fifty rounds and killing the three jihadists. Sadly, no one was there for Fusilier Lee Rigby - remember him? The British Soldier hacked to death by Islamic jihadists right outside his military base.

We are all on a battlefield where this enemy lives by archaic mandates from the 7th century. They embrace violence and seek death. And no, Ramadan for them is not some kumbaya month of yoga-like inner reflection. Ramadan is the month where a jihadist can achieve "shaheed" status, if he loses his life killing non-Muslims, infidels. We know all of this, and what is even more astonishing, again, in the immediate aftermath of this London attack, are the arrests of some twelve in East London. That lends one to believe that we know the associates and the existing cells.

As a matter of fact, the UK, due to its lax immigration policies - funny, Theresa May was previously the UK Home Secretary - now has some 23,000 Islamic jihadists within its borders. We know they've allowed some 400 to travel from the UK to train and fight with ISIS, only to reenter the UK - and we have chuckleheads against a temporary travel halt and better vetting practices?

We must start to separate freedom of religion from sedition. The UK needs to deconstruct the sharia courts they've allowed to promulgate into unassimilated communities. We need to clearly let it be known that imams, clerics and mullahs who preach Islamic jihadism and extremism will not be protected under freedom of religion. We must seek out those places where radicalization occurs and shut those facilities down. We must cut off the funding from states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar that spread the hate-ridden ideology of Wahhabism. We must end the practice of allowing this enemy to exploit us due to our civil liberties. Those are intended for people who wish to assimilate and embrace our freedoms, not use them as a platform and a means to advance a "civilizational jihad".

Here in the United States, our national security council needs to read the Muslim Brotherhood's Explanatory Memorandum written in 1991. President Trump needs to sign an executive order that declares the Muslim Brotherhood as an Islamic terrorist organization, thereby outlawing the groups listed in the memorandum as their affiliates. There is no way the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) should have an office on Capitol Hill.

But, most importantly, we need a strategy that isn't whack-a-mole based. No more speeches or rhetoric; we need action, and that means bringing a level of pain and anguish against Islamic jihadists never before seen. No more restrictive rules of engagement or nation-building efforts; this is all about finding this enemy wherever they seek sanctuary and destroy them. No more listening to entertainment elites talk about more love and openness. This entails a complete engagement against the ideology of Islamism and Islamic jihadism. No more waiting for Muslim nations to step up. Those that will, can and should, otherwise, we can easily surmise the meaning of inaction.

Just two weeks ago, I wrote a piece about how many more stories will I have to write about Islamic terrorist attacks. Simply put, if I am to be referred to as a Crusader, so be it. Yes, I will crusade for freedom, liberty, and the sanctity and security of our way of life. If the savage barbarians embracing a 7th century antiquated ideology want to label me as a Crusader, I embrace that moniker. I will not be some slack-jawed Islamapologist. I will not surrender our principles, values, and Republic. I will not be disarmed so as to become a terrorist target. Yes, there is a swamp to be drained, and I implore the Muslim community to step it up, turn in these Islamists, or else be viewed as part of the problem, not the solution. And anyone talking about internment camps is an idiot. However, anyone dismissing this enemy, fails to accept the enemy's premise this is a religious war, and who thinks we don't need to take better actions, such as a temporary travel halt and increased surveillance, is stuck on stupid.

Yes, Prime Minister Theresa May struck a different tone in her speech today. I wish she had the same type of tone when she was the UK Home Secretary. I find it very telling that the global elitists and the progressive socialist left is still focused on climate change and impeaching President Trump. Islamic Jihadism is the clear and present danger, a cancerous scourge of our times.

Seventy-five years ago today at Midway Island, the middle of nowhere in the Pacific, we fought with tenacity and determination. We defeated the enemy that struck us on December 7, 1941 in four years. And yes, we used a weapon of annihilation instead of feeding our men into a meat grinder of death.

What has so changed in these 75 years about us, and our desire to live, to survive? That is the irony of June 4th...not the nature of the enemy; our nature.

Lt. Col (Retired) Allen West served 22 years in the US Army and represented Florida's 22nd Congressional District in the US House of Representatives from 2011-2013. To hear more from Col. West, visit www.allenbwest.com.

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